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Friday, December 30, 2016

A new study doubles the estimated number of bird species by using an evolutionary species concept instead of a biological one. The paper is available to read at PLoS ONE. The results emphasize the need to protect distinct populations beyond what are currently accepted as species.

President Obama this week named two new national monuments, Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. Coverage of the monuments has emphasized conservative opposition, but the same politicians complaining about overreach use parks and monuments to market their states. There may be a few more monument designations on the way.

The Obama administration's record on endangered species has been mixed; while many species have been delisted (a mark of successful conservation programs) and some backlog has been cleared, new rules have made it harder to nominate species for protection.

The National Whistleblower Center is launching a website to help people report wildlife crime, which often goes unreported or underinvestigated.

Friday, December 23, 2016

The American Ornithologists’ Union and the Cooper Ornithological Society have merged to become the American Ornithological Society. The society promotes the study of ornithology and maintains the official checklists for North and South America.

It looks like the Trump administration will attack estimates of the social cost of carbon as part of its climate regulation rollback (even though recent research suggests that the Obama administration's estimates are too low).

The Union of Concerned Scientists is concerned about Trump's choice to lead the Interior Department, Ryan Zinke.

A study of corvoids (crows and allies) showed that the shape of a bird's wings is influenced by where it lives. Birds from the tropics tend to have short, rounded wings for navigating forest interiors, while birds from higher latitudes tend to have long, pointed wings for flying longer distances.

Birds migrating across the Great Lakes increase altitude at dawn and head for the nearest shore, according to a study using weather radar. The study emphasizes the importance of maintaining shoreline habitat.

The endangered Greater Adjutant Stork population in India is rebounding thanks to an ongoing education campaign.

The feathered tail of a young theropod dinosaur was found preserved in amber.

Fort Bragg hosts the second largest population of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers after Apalachicola National Forest, and several other southeastern military bases also host breeding populations.

Activists at Standing Rock won a victory this week when the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement before granting an easement for the energy company to dig under the Missouri River. However, the fight is not over since the easement could still be granted.

The "drain the swamp" rhetoric from the election (started by conservatives but echoed by liberals) sparked a response from biologists in the form of a #ReignTheSwamp hashtag highlighting wetland biodiversity.

Friday, December 02, 2016

A biologist who spent her life studying the unusual mating system of White-throated Sparrows died within a few months of publishing a major paper on the genetic mutation that underlies the sparrows' different color morphs. White-striped individuals almost always mate with tan-striped individuals, to the extent that the species seems to have four sexes.

Conservationists want stronger protections for Black Rails, but it is challenging to get data on their population trends since Black Rails are hard for birders to find. (Unfortunately the author of that piece makes some odd comments about rails and why birders have trouble finding them.)